It's been more than five months since Poynter packed its bags and its independent review of Bristol's work and left ESPN as ombudsman. Considering how long it's taken, and how meh Poynter's run actually was, it was easy to forget ESPN ever even had an ombudsman at all.
Number of ESPN columns praising Don Ohlmeyer in the last 68 days: one. Number of Don Ohlmeyer's ESPN Ombudsman columns in the last 68 days: none.
As ESPN ombudsman, Don Ohlmeyer is tasked with examining any professional questions or conflicts of interest raised by the network's coverage of sports and sports news. So naturally, this month's column, posted today, is about vuvuzelas.
"Was the telecast balanced? ESPN thinks it was — and for me, that is the most troubling aspect of this whole affair." [ESPN]
Former NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer actually opened his first ESPN ombudsman column by reciting the definition of "ombudsman" from the dictionary. And also like a bad graduation speech, he takes way too long to get to the point.
The quest to replace ESPN's Le Anne Schreiber as the WWL's ombudsperson might be near completion if stars align: Venerable sports producer and consummate BSD Don Ohlmeyer is rumored to be the lead candidate for the position, sourcepersons say.
